Labor in the Era of Globalization

Labor in the Era of Globalization

In this print edition...

• Labor in the Era of Globalization

• Feeling the Heat: Is Global Climate Change Here to Stay?

• Let My People Go: US Labor Fights Bush Travel Ban

• Cracking the Nest Egg: Retirement Insecurity in Alaska

• Short Story: Mindstorm

• August's Letters (updated frequently)

• August's Poetry

• Nobody Asked Me, But...

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Up until the early 1990’s the socialist camp including the Soviet Union acted somewhat as a brake on imperialism and on capitalist globalization. In addition to checking military domination and adventures, as trading partners the socialist bloc also provided the means for many developing countries to resist and/or minimize unfair trade and the penetration of foreign capital.

In early April I rented the video of The Day After Tomorrow, last summer’s global-warming disaster film. Its conceit was that global warming produced a global freezing. A group of young survivors decamped to the New York Public Library, where they burned books to keep warm and await their rescue, while the city was blanketed in so much ice and snow that the Statue of Liberty’s torch rose slightly above it.

The Bush administration doesn’t believe that people in the US should have the right to travel wherever they want. It believes that the US government has the right to restrict freedom of movement and to enforce laws selectively to punish people who do not agree with the administration’s foreign policy towards certain countries. The administration has specifically aimed the federal government’s resources at punishing those who travel to Cuba without obtaining a government license.

Right-wing Alaska legislators, working in conjunction with an arrogant and mean-spirited governor, have pushed through a new, privatized retirement plan for public-sector workers such as teachers and state employees. This plan is very similar to the increasingly common 401(k) plans that have been favored in the last couple of decades by corporations looking to increase profits.

Vida cringed at the thought of “wearing” Hank again, but he was never late. As 2 p.m. drew near, she felt the usual uneasiness twisting her abdomen. Sharing his energy left her feeling spent and infected. His perversions were a rancid fog that lingered on her mind.